There have been countless efforts to create a usable Web Annotation service. Diigo is one, Fleck is one (our own version) and there was the once popular Third Voice. Nobody seems to have found the right combination of scalability, user interface, compatibility and viral growth that you need to turn such a service into a widely used successful service.

“Imagine if you could pull a transparent layer over any webpage and then you could create upon it. You could annotate, draw graffiti, embed video, photos or do whatever you want. Then, by providing a link, others could see your layer (with the original content beneath it) and you could see layers created by other people. You could follow your friends and see all the layers they create. You could go to any webpage and see any of the layers that have been created over that site.”

They are still in closed beta but the preview video looks amazingly cool and looks like exactly the service you would want to use. Check it out and sign up at Layers.com with invitation code “create1108” for an account.

Boris is CEO and co-founder of The Next Web, he's also a frequent speaker and a serial entrepreneur who founded The Next Web but also V3 Redirect Services (sold), HubHop Wireless Internet Provider (sold), Twitter Counter, InboxPro.com and several other companies. Boris is very active on Twitter as @Boris.